A Constrained Reunion
by Denacitarii
Summary: Harry Potter hasn't given Draco Malfoy a second thought for almost 7 years, but now, with a forced intervention that he can't exactly ignore, some uncomfortable memories are being brought to the surface again. Rated T for slash. ASP&SM, mentions of DM&HP.


A/N: I kind of have a general idea of where I would take this, but if you'd like me to continue, just let me know. I LOVE YOU ALL. COLLECTIVELY.

Disclaimer: As much as this fact despairs me, I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd have better things to do then spend my days browsing and reading people's stories. (Like writing my own and getting paid for it.) *cough*

Pairings: Albus S. & Scorpius M.; mentions of Harry P. & Draco M. in later chapters.

* * *

><p><strong>A Constrained Reunion<strong>

In the 19 years that the Potter family had occupied the three-leveled house just off Herring Street in the middle of the woods, there had never been such an outrageous, chaotic disturbance as there was on the afternoon of December 15th, when Albus returned from his first semester at Hogwarts. The entire area was trembling with the shouting and arguing issuing forth from the crowded house, and Harry had a feeling that if the muggles would have been able to hear them, someone would have called the police, despite the fact that their closest neighbors lived exactly two and a half miles away.

Sometimes he had to wonder if his youngest son was just trying to stir the pot a little.

Earlier that morning, breakfast had been interrupted by an abrupt knock at the door, and Lily, Hugo and all the other cousins residing at the house for the weekend had promptly dropped everything that was concerning them and flocked to tackle Albus Potter as he walked into the house.

Nobody had noticed the tall, pale boy standing behind him in the doorway. At least, they hadn't until Lily had ogled him strangely, and demanded what he was doing there.

"Oh, I was just –"he began, probably about to explain himself, but Albus interrupted him.

"Dad, can I talk to you?"

Harry started when his son had addressed him so quickly; usually when he came back from school he would hug everyone else first, tousle up Molly's hair and pull his mother into an embrace before he would even think of speaking with his father.

Before Harry was given a chance to respond, Albus, who seemed to be on the fence about something, changed his mind and pulled the blonde boy into the entryway so his family could all have a good look at him.

"Actually, you're all going to want to hear this," Albus continued, exchanging a sideways glance with the boy, and making Harry wrinkle his brow in confusion.

"For those of you who haven't figured it out yet," He started, looking only at Rose, who was standing towards the back of the room, trying to appear supportive and at the same time prepared to bolt out of the house in the case of an eruption, which she was clearly expecting.

"This is Scorpius Malfoy." He said firmly, and the atmosphere seemed to lighten up for a brief moment. Ginny gave Albus a look of approval, evidently proud that her son had taken on the task of befriending a Malfoy at school. Rose, however, was still backing slowly out of the room, because Albus had entrusted her with a piece of vital information that he hadn't shared with his family yet.

Well, he was getting to that.

The dark-haired, bespectacled boy took a deep breath, and finished his sentence.

"… He's my boyfriend."

He stood there, facing his entire extended family, trying to read the expressions on their faces, waiting eagerly for some sort of reaction.

For a minute, it seemed like there wouldn't be one.

Everybody just stared at him in awestruck silence as he stood there with an amused, playful smirk on his face, one that reminded Harry so much of his own father, who was often known to ruffle up his hair and pull that cocky grin in photographs.

And then… confirming Rose Weasley's predictions, the house exploded.

James made a sudden, violent movement towards Scorpius, probably with every intention of wringing his neck, and it took four Weasley brothers to pull him back as he struggled against them, shouting terrible names at the blonde boy at the top of his lungs.  
>Hermione had been holding a large casserole dish in the Dining Room, and it had fallen abruptly out of her hands onto the wooden floor and smashed. She had made no further attempt to pick it up.<br>Lily seemed to have choked on something, and began sputtering madly; ranting about what the kids at school would do when they found out she was related to a homosexual.  
>Some of the younger children, who didn't understand such concepts yet, simply began laughing at Albus, thinking that he was pulling another hilarious prank on the family.<br>Ginny looked like she had no words to express her resentment, and then began trying to coax Albus out of this, reassuring him that it was just a phase, that every young adult questioned his sexuality at one point, and that he would grow out of it soon enough…

Harry, who had been watching his son's expression the entire time, was surprised to see Albus shrug casually, and take Scorpius' hand, leading him into the house while his family continued in their frenzied pandemonium, not even noticing as the two of them cut through the center of the crowd and sought refuge in the kitchen. He followed them around to the back of the house, narrowly escaping a flying pot that was thrown viciously at the wall, missing his head by a few inches.

They were standing by the back door, their heads pressed together, talking in hushed voices. However, Harry could still sense the desperation in their tones, and he could tell they were questioning whether this had been a prudent idea or not.

"I shouldn't have come here, this was a mistake…"

"No. I'm glad you did, really. They needed to know about it. And I knew they would react like this, that's why I told you to brace yourself when you wanted to stay over here." He laughed as he reached down and squeezed Scorpius' hand. "They'll get over it. They love me a lot; I know they'll accept it eventually. We'll just have to wait a few days."

"As long as your brother doesn't kill me before I get a chance to explain myself," Scorpius retorted. Albus laughed, taking his other hand and bringing it up to his lips.

"Well I can't make any promises…"

Harry cleared his throat loudly, announcing his presence in the room, and Scorpius jumped, jerking his hands away from Albus as quickly as he could.

"I'm sorry sir… we didn't see you standing there…"

"Oh, shut up, Scorp. It's only my dad."

Harry felt a slight twinge of pride at the fact that his son had known he wouldn't blow up in their faces, just like the rest of the family had demonstrated so marvelously.

And as he searched to find his emotions regarding this surprising confession, he found that Albus was right. He wasn't upset about the matter. He was shocked, yes, because Albus had always been such a ladies' man, and had introduced several of his past girlfriends to his family in this manner, but he wasn't disappointed in his son. He loved the boy just as much as he did when Albus had broken the family Sneakoscope on his third birthday, or when he had thrown a tantrum during Percy's wedding and lost the rings that he was supposed to be carrying down the aisle, and even when he was sorted into Slytherin, and thought that no one in his family would ever forgive him. Ginny might have been right about this being a phase he was going through, but even if it wasn't, Harry didn't think he could possibly hate his son because of this.

"Scorpius," Harry began, addressing the poor, blonde teen who looked extremely overwhelmed at the reaction he had provoked in the other room. "I'm glad you're here. Really, I am. It's just… I don't think anyone was really expecting that, and they're just a little… confused." Harry could still hear the exaggerated yelling in the entryway, which seemed to be growing louder.

"Can we have a moment?" He continued, motioning to his son. "You can go up to Al's room if you like. Just make sure to use the back staircase so they won't give you any more trouble…"

"Yes sir." Scorpius was blushing profusely, and he seemed to be glad of an excuse to leave the scene as fast as he could. Giving Albus a hesitant, worrisome glance, he rounded the corner and ascended a wooden staircase to seek refuge from all the chaos that was evidently still thriving downstairs.

Harry hadn't spoken with his son face-to-face since the start of term, and he hadn't realized how difficult it would be to carry on a decent conversation after all that had happened in the last four months. They stood there in the kitchen, Albus leaning against the counter top and Harry listening awkwardly to the shouting issuing forth from his other son, who was publicly slandering the Malfoys and insisting that he would get even with them as soon as he was given the opportunity.

"We should go outside," Harry suggested.

"Good idea."

The chill, morning air was more refreshing than Harry had remembered it being, and as he stood there with his son on the lawn, he wondered why he had never initiated a conversation with Albus about this topic. He had never really been given a reason to wonder about his son's sexual preference before, but now that Albus had firmly decided where he stood, Harry wondered why he hadn't picked up on it sooner.

"I'm sorry about that, Al, but I don't really know how you were expecting they would react…"

"No. I knew they wouldn't be happy. Scorpius sent his dad an owl a month or so ago, and all he got back was a howler that told everyone in the Great Hall how contemptible we were. He wasn't happy it was me, either. It's just the whole Potter-Malfoy abhorrence thing again. He said he'd rather die than have a faggot for a son, and he'd rather Scorpius would have never been born than have me as a son-in-law."

The words pierced Harry in the chest, making him remember how much he had loathed Draco Malfoy in his school days. He remembered everything that Draco had done to make his seven years at Hogwarts so unbearably miserable, and how cowardly he had been, and how desperately he clung to the Pureblood-mania of his father, making him even more despicable of an individual.

And then, another memory came, unanticipated, crashing back into his head like a freight train. For a moment, he recalled Ginny's words, saying that everyone went through this phase at some point or another, and that eventually they'd grow out of it… Had she known? Had somebody told her?

His thought process was interrupted by Albus' calm, relaxed voice as he continued explaining this predicament to his father.

"I love him, though. And nothing His dad can ever do will change that."

Harry shook off the rush of memories that were flooding his head for the first time in 30 years, and tried to focus only on his son. Albus needed him. There wasn't anyone else he could talk to about this, and he had to reassure him that he was still loved by all of them, no matter what his views towards the same gender consisted of.

"Al, I'm proud of you." He said, looking his son in the eyes, realizing how similar they looked to his own, and how much he had missed having this boy around. "I can't say I wasn't surprised, but I'm so proud of how confident you are. I was never that brave, and you're the one that's in Slytherin," He said with a laugh.

"Yeah, but you were brave when it mattered. You saved the whole world, for God's sakes. I'll never live up to that."

"I'm not asking you to. I never, _never_ want to pressure you with that." He placed a hand on Albus's shoulder, noticing how much taller he had grown over the last semester at his school. "Anyways, Al, I've told you that story. I hardly did any of that on my own. You don't deserve to live in the shadow of anything I did. You're too great for that."

"Yeah, but – won't it hurt you when they start writing about it in the _Prophet_? Because you know they will. They'll start rounding on you, saying it's your fault, and then-"

"It's nobody's fault, Al. It's the way you are, and I'm glad you're realizing that so early in your life."

"You don't hate me?"

"If that were even possible, then no. I wouldn't hate you."

"And mum?"

Harry sighed loudly.

"She just needs some time. You know that. I think she was expecting you to marry that last girl you brought around here."

"Who, Charlotte?"

"Well can you blame her for hoping? She was really pretty, you know…"

Albus laughed, and lifted his head up to the weary sun, which was trying desperately to shine through the early morning fog and illuminate the grounds like it always did later in the afternoon.

"I never loved her. I was attracted to her, but in sort of an… adolescent sense."  
>Harry nodded, wishing he could understand the thought process that was going through Albus' mind, but, despite the fact that he would know more about this situation than anyone, he could not.<p>

"Well, if you're sure you feel that way, then… I'm happy for you. Not everyone gets to be in a relationship that special at your age."

"When did you know you loved mum?"

It was a question that he hadn't really been asked before. He didn't think it was doing Ginny justice to be making a comparison between their relationship and his son's with Scorpius Malfoy, but he answered Albus, nonetheless.

"When I was your age. 7th year, I suppose. I was away from her for a long time, and it really made me understand how much I needed her. And, when we were back together, after the war was over and we had counted our losses, we just decided that we should be with each other for the rest of our lives. And I proposed."

"You make it sound so statistical. I'm sure there was some room for romance."

"Of course there was," Harry clarified, laughing softly. "You know how much I love her."

"Yeah, she's great." He paused for a minute and scuffed the toes of his shoes on the hard, barren earth. "I just wish she could…understand me a little more. You know."

There was a long pause, in which Harry wasn't exactly sure how to answer his son. A few of the memories that had resurfaced a moment ago were still creeping into the edges of his mind, no matter how hard he tried to push them away.

"We should probably go inside. I reckon they'll have calmed down a bit by now."

"Dad?"

"Yes?" He looked at his son, who was smiling at him with those almond-shaped, bright green eyes.

"Thanks. For everything. I'm glad I can talk to you about… that."

Harry smiled.

"I'm glad you're back, Al."

He pulled his son into an embrace, holding him as tight as he used to when the boy was still a child, and realizing that nothing had changed between them since then. He loved him even more now, despite everything that they had been through together. It didn't matter that Albus had brought his boyfriend back to their house; it didn't matter that that boyfriend just happened to be the son of Draco Malfoy. There was no hostility between them, which was the only thing Harry could ever ask for in a relationship with his son.

"I better go check on Scorp. He's probably a bit shaken after that little incident…"

"Yeah, go ahead." He let go of Albus, who went bounding towards the back door, giving his father another side smile before he shut it and went looking for Scorpius again.

_Scorpius Malfoy. _

_Draco Malfoy. _

Harry didn't have a problem with it, as he was quite sure that his son would not willingly date someone who was the reincarnation of Draco, but it was slightly… unsettling. For reasons that he hoped to God only he knew about.

And still, he couldn't keep the memories at bay. Once they had returned to him, it was like a tidal wave that was rushing over his subconscious, filling him with regrets, with terrible recollections of things he had never told his wife…

He knew he had to see Draco. There was a score that needed to be settled, one that had almost been eclipsed in the light of the war that ensued directly after that event. He couldn't let this happen without being sure that Draco remembered the same thing, that he would accept this and not make Scorpius live in agony because he had chosen to be with Albus.

This was a matter that only he could settle, and with every breath he took he became more aware of that.

If he really did love his son, he would do this for him. He would abandon his pride, allow the past the help dictate their future, and meet with Draco.

He didn't know which of these feats would be the hardest to accomplish.

As the light overhead broke through a gap in the clouded sky, the house was illuminated, the wilted garden in the yard appeared to be blooming with bright, sunlit roses again, and for a moment, he was hopeful.

* * *

><p>AN: If you got this far, thank you SO much for reading. That literally just made my day.  
>Now if you want to make my day 10 times better... leave me a two-word review! You have no IDEA how rewarding those are. Whenever I get one in my e-mail, my heart skips a beat and I do a little happy dance. Seriously.<p> 


End file.
